WAX, AND BEE ARCHITECTURE. 167 



the angles of comb to minutes of a degree, needs 

 no contradiction. 



The story is not distortion ; it is simple fable — a 

 fitting companion to " Jack and the Bean Stalk/' 

 et hoc genus omne. But the whole thing is made 

 the more preposterous by the inexactitude of comb 

 itself. Careful measurements of the finest pieces 

 I have discovered, built with every advantage for 

 securing regularity, have shown that every cell is 

 far from geometrically accurate. It is difficult to find 

 a hexagon presenting errors of less than 3deg. or 

 4deg. in its angles, or, on an average, a distortion 

 more than a hundredfold as great as the 2min. in 

 question. 



But because comb presents irregularities, must we 

 think less of it, or the little creature that moulds it, 

 or of the frame of nature of which the latter forms a 

 part ? Assuredly not ; for if comb, to be perfect, 

 needed that kind of perfection which defective 

 reasoning, and an imperfect acquaintance with facts, 

 would have us to believe it to possess, then the incli- 

 nation of the brood cells (Fig. 4), and curvature of 

 the honey cells (G, Fig. 36), suiting them so much 

 better to their purpose, would have been impossible ; 

 and equally so, amidst many others, the fluctuations 

 in form to suit the character of the bee domicile, or 

 irregular transition cells to mingle drone comb with 

 worker. The instinct of the bee transcends the 

 mathematical solution that has been demanded in 

 achieving its true aim, which is economic. All 

 Nature, apart from the mystery of life, solves every- 

 thing mathematically. The cricket ball flying from 



